454: QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 June, 1902. 
Viticulture. 
PRUNING. 
By E. H. RAINFORD, Instructor in Viticulture. 
It is now four years since an article on this subject appeared in the 
Agricultural Journal, and as many new men have gone in for viticulture since: 
then, some of whom, perhaps, are unaware of the fact or unable to procure 
the article in question, it will not be out of place to deal with the subject 
again. Although there must be, unavoidably, more or less repetition of 
previous matter, there will be this difference—viz., that whereas in the former 
article the plates illustrating the various systems of pruning and the steps 
taken to arrive at them were taken from other works, those illustrating this. 
article are reproduced from photos of vines taken at the experimental farms. 
for the pruning records, and therefore can be relied on as actual and not 
imaginary. 
Every vigneron knows that pruning a vine is a necessary part of its. 
cultivation; for if it were not done, it would extend over and entangle with 
other vines forming an impenetrable thicket, rendering cultivation impossible, 
and would produce small, defective, valueless grapes. The primitive methods. 
adopted by the “lazy man,” who restricts himself to slashing his Isabellas with 
an old scythe now and again, can hardly be described as up-to-date pruning ;. 
some more scientific method than this of controlling the vegetation is required. 
The growth must not only be restrained within certain limits, but the vine 
must be given the definite shape that can be most economically cultivated ; for 
as winter pruning and summer pruning form an important part of vine 
cultivation, these can only be effected with economy of time on those vines. 
which have a definite and similar shape. 
The question that the unpractised hand asks himself is: How am I to 
begin? How am I to keep it up? What rules and principles am I to follow 
and observe? ‘The vine is pruned in many ways according to the variety, soil, 
and climate, but the following laws should be observed in all systems :— 
1. A shape must be given to the vine that permits the sap to be 
repartitioned to all parts of the vine equally ; to succeed in this the: 
permanent wood must be kept as much as possible in one plane. 
. Balance the vegetation of the vine and its crop to the fertility of the 
soil. ais: 
. Canes of average size are more fruitful than thick ones. 
. Vertical canes dispose more to wood, and those inclined downwards. 
to fruit; any dispositions tending to check the flow of sap assists 
production of fruit. 
5. The fewer the number of buds on a shoot or spur the greater will be: 
the vigour of each individual shoot growing from them, and vice 
versa. 
6. The more abundant the fruit the less will be the saccharine matter 
in it. 
7. Deformations produced by wounds, angles, and torsions diminish the 
flow of sap and consequently the activity of the vine or part of the: 
vine. 
An explanation of some of the above rules will assist novices to understand 
their application :— 
1. The necessity of giving a vine a correct and permanent shape is of 
prime necessity in pruning, and one that is more honoured in Queensland in 
the breach than in the observance, in trellised vines. In all parts of the State 
vineyards are met with where vines are to be seen straggling all over 
the wires like monstrous octopi, possessed of double the legal number 
of tentacles, with the inevitable result that in a few years all the lower spurs: 
i) 
Be co 
